The other thing our continental cousins are want to do is reverse the way locks work. So what looks like the yale is the deadlock and what locks like the deadlock is the yale.
I know this now but I didn't the first time a young and naive me left a continental flat with the rubbish bag heading for the basement. When I got there I couldn't get in, not having the wit to try the locks the other way around, so headed back to the flat to find... I couldn't get in.
My rising panic at being locked out all day with a bag of rubbish in hand prevented me thinking clearly and when a neighbour came out I gabbled at him and waved the keys and the rubbish bag in his face. He calmly took the keys out of my hand and let me back in, handed the keys back and left, all without a word or a backward glance.
I know this now but I didn't the first time a young and naive me left a continental flat with the rubbish bag heading for the basement. When I got there I couldn't get in, not having the wit to try the locks the other way around, so headed back to the flat to find... I couldn't get in.
My rising panic at being locked out all day with a bag of rubbish in hand prevented me thinking clearly and when a neighbour came out I gabbled at him and waved the keys and the rubbish bag in his face. He calmly took the keys out of my hand and let me back in, handed the keys back and left, all without a word or a backward glance.
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